Rugby Union: England Name EPS Squad For The Six Nations

Ball In Touch: The RFU announced the new England Elite Performance Squad on Wednesday, revealing the names of those expected to take England forward into the Six Nations. We detail the squad and discuss the selections made

The RFU announced the new England Elite Performance Squad on Wednesday, revealing the names of those expected to take England forward into the Six Nations.

The squad has 15 players who were not in New Zealand, with the older heads of Mike Tindall and Nick Easter failing to make the cut.

Nine players are uncapped, with the likes of Own Farrell and Ben Morgan getting their chance as has been predicted in the media for some weeks now. Four others have one cap to their name, in the form of Mouritz Botha, Charlie Sharples, Chris Robshaw and Joe Simpson.

Other players getting a chance include young Harlequins prop Joe Marler, who is likely to celebrate with a typically outrageous hair style, the perennial nearly man Phil Dowson in the back row, alongside fellow Saint Calum Clark, raising the prospect of a all Northampton Back row with Tom Wood.

Louis Deacon is named in the squad despite being likely to miss the whole tournament. This means David Attwood can step up from the Saxons to take his place for now. Rob Webber will likely go head to head with Lee Mears for a place on the bench, with the Bath man being one of only three 30+ players, the others being Tom Palmer and Charlie Hodgson. Hodgson will have the chance to replicate his Saracens combination at 10-12-13 as Brad Barritt joins the squad along side Farrell.

Courtney Lawes, Toby Flood and Manu Tuilagi all feature despite being likely to miss the initial fixtures, with Jordan Turner-Hall a likely candidate to replace the Samoan born centre. Saracens full-back Alex Goode, Leicester’s Geoff Parling and Gloucester’s Henry Trinder, all uncapped, will all join Attwood in joining the squad as injury cover from the Saxons

In the back three, Delon Armitage pays the price for poor form and discipline, allowing David Strettle another crack at cementing a place on the wings. Mike Brown has been rewarded for excellent club form and now has the chance to challenge Ben Foden from the full-back position, whilst scrum half Lee Dickson gets his chance thanks to the long term injury of Richard Wigglesworth.

Stuart Lancaster confirmed he would not be naming a captain until the first week of training, which will take place at West Park in Yorkshire, Lancaster’s home club.

The squad is largely as WhatCulture’s Ball In Touch expected with Nick Wood and Luke Narraway being probably the most unlucky to miss out. Conversely though Phil Dowson has been waiting for his chance for years now and hopefully will be able to make the step up after performing and captaining the Saxons so admirably for so long.

The exclusion of the over thirties Nick Easter, Mike Tindall, Mark Cueto and Thomas Waldrom (flown in as cover at the World Cup) shows Lancaster is determined to build a team for the future and refuses to be held up by sentiment, something that Martin Johnson was guilty of and has thwarted Chris Robshaw and Tom Wood’s hunt for caps until now, by all accounts.

The rawness of the side will be targeted by England’s Six Nations opponents,France in particular relishing the battle with a front row with an average age of less than 25 – which in propping years is like nursery school.

But there is genuine competition for places now, with all players no doubt been told they will be given a chance to assert themselves and stake a claim. The first game is on the 4th February against Scotland, in Scotland. The hard work starts here.

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Jeff Ball is a Geordie with a Newcastle Falcons season ticket, a rugby coaching badge, a bias for Newcastle United on Playstation games and was terrified by Jurassic Park as a child. For more of his personal musings following him on Twitter @JeffreyBall
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